Braking system for alternating current motors



June 20, 1950 R. E. MARBURY 2,512,354

BRAKING SYSTEM FOR ALTERNATING CURRENT MOTORS Filed Jan. 15, 1948 WITNESSES: INVENTOR Ralph E. Marbur'y. Y BY 724 W a ATTORNEY Patented June 20, 1950 BRAKING SYSTEM FOR ALTERNATING CURRENT MOTORS Ralph E. Marburll, Wilkinsburg, Pa, assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pitts.- burgh, Ba, a corporation of'Pennsylvania Application January 15, 1948', SeriaiNo. 2,541

2 Claims.

My invention relates. toalternating-current motor control systems in which immediately after the disconnection of the motor from its power supply, a capacitive dischargeis passed throughthe motor in order to secure a quick braking or stopping. Control systems of this type are disclosed in the copending application Serial No. 668,693 of F; D. Snyder, now Patent No. 2,445,806,. assigned to the assignee of the'present invention.

It is. an object of: my invention to improve control. systems; of the above-mentioned type, as regards reliability of braking performanceor braking efli'cacy without appreciable increase in the. cost of equipment. Another object of the invention isto permit using a considerably smaller capacitance in such systems withoutloss in braking performance.

According to the invention, I connect across. the motor terminals the primary circuit; of a stepup transformer so that the transformer is energized only when; the contactor for-controllingthe motor is closed; and I connect across thehighvoltage secondary circuit of the transformer a capacitor in series connection with a rectifier which is short-circuited by an auxiliary contact when the. cont-actor is open. In a system designed in this manner, a capacitor of relatively small capacitance and small dimensions is capableof securing a more efiective braking than under larger capacitorsin the systems, previously proposed,

and, it becomes possible and practical, if desired, to employ available small liquid papercapacitors of high reliability instead; of electrolytic capacitors. A system according to the invention also permits more readily to stop the motor in not more or even less than the period of one revolution.

embodiment of a control,v system. according to the invention is diagrammatically shown on the drawing by way of example.

According to the drawing, an alternating current motor M of the induction type has its three terminals TI, T2- and T3 connected to respective line terminals LI, L2- and L3 under control by the main contacts I, 2 and 3, respectively, of an electromagnetic contactor C. The control coil 4 of this contactor actuates also two interlock contacts 5 and 6 and is connected across the line terminals LI and L2 through a normally open start contact I and a normally closed stop contact 8. Contacts 1 and 8 are preferably of the pushbutton type for actuation by an attendant, or they may consist of limit switches or the like control organs to be actuated automatically by the machinery driven by the motor M.

Connected across motor terminals TI and T3. is the primary winding 9 of a transformer III- whose secondary winding is denoted by II. Transformer I 0 is a step-up transformer, that is, its secondary voltage is much higher than the primary voltage and preferably of a higher decimal order of magnitude. For instance, a transformer ratio between 1 to 10' and 1 to 20 may be chosen.

A capacitor I2 and a rectifier I3, for instance, of the dry or junction type, are connected in series with each other across the secondary windin I I. The auxiliary contact 5, of contactor C is connected. across the rectifier I3 to short-circuit the rectifier when the main contacts of contactor C are open.

When the start contact 'I is depressed by the attendant, coil 4. becomes energized so that the contactor closes its main contacts in order to start the motor. The interlock contact 6 then establishes a self-holding circuit in parallel to the start contact I so that the contactor remains closed when contact I is thereafter released. The closing of contactor C has the efiect of opening the short-circuit of rectifier I3 at contact 5. The capacitor I2 is now charged through the rectifier I 3 by direct current under the relatively high voltage of secondary winding II. When thereafter the stop contact 8 is depressed, the circuit of contactor coil 4 is opened. so that the main contacts I, 2-, 3 open and interrupt the power supply to the motor M. At the same time, the auxiliary contact 5; is closed and short-circuits the rectifier I3. As a result, the capacitor discharges through the contact 5 and the transformer winding II thus inducing a current impulse in winding 9 which is; applied to themotor and produces a braking field that stops the motor.

It will be recognized that the rectifying device I3carries current-only-during the short charging interval ofthe capacitor. Consequently, this rect'ifi'er has; a relativelysmall current-carrying capacity' and may be given very small dimensions. The system requires no timing device of any kind because shortly after the opening of the contactor the capacitive discharge current has exhausted itself, and the entire control circuit becomes deenergized.

The advantages afforded by the invention may be illustrated by a comparison relating to the braking of a three-phase four-pole induction motor of 1 H. P. with a phase voltage of 200 volts C. P. S.) between any two of its field terminals. It was found that for braking this motor, under tested load conditions, from synchronous speed to stop within a period of not more than one revolution, a total capacitance of 7,000 microfarads was needed if charged at 200 volts, i. e., directly across two motor terminals in series with a rectifier. A capacitor, or a group of capacitors, totalling 7,000 microfarads represents a rather unwieldy device whose cost is uneconomically high or virtually prohibitive compared with the cost of the 1 H. P. motor; and it will be recognized that this is all the more true with larger motors or with larger inertia loads. In

contrast thereto, the same braking performance with the same motor under otherwise the same conditions is secured when using a capacitor of only 31 microfarads, if this capacitor and the appertaining rectifier are impressed by secondary voltage of 3 kilovolts in accordance with the present invention. Although this requires an additional transformer, the total cost of capacitor and transformer need not be higher and may be kept lower than that of the above-mentioned much larger capacitor unit alone. Besides, the order ofv capacitance magnitude required in systems according to the invention is so low th'at'there is a practically free choice of the type and design of capacitors; and. it is easily possible to increase thecapacitance for obtaining a more reliable or more rapid braking performance or for braking more heavily loaded motors or motors of larger horsepower value than can economically be contolled by the previously proposed systems.

The fact that, according to the invention, a much smaller capacitor can be employed for producing a braking effect in the motor equivalent to the braking heretofore obtainable only with very large capacitors will be more fully understood from the following:

The braking field set up in the motor depends upon the energy delivered bythe capacitor to the motor field winding, this'energy is proportional to wherein C is the discharging capacity in microfarads and E the capacitor voltage in volts. Referring to the above-mentioned example of a capacitor of 7000 mi. charged at 200 v., the braking field energy is 2 2 -6 g X10 =14=O watt seconds In the above-mentioned exampleof a system according'to the invention, using a capacitor of 31 mi. charged under 3 ,kilovolts, the braking field energy'is r Y tors designed for low voltages, the use of a high-voltage capacitor in combination with a transformer, as a rule, affords more reliable results. Besides, the braking effect can be adjusted because it is readily possible to use capacitors for higher braking energies than feasible or economical with the large capacitors and because the charging voltage can also be chosen or adjusted for the desired braking effect. For instance, as shown on the drawing, the transformer secondary ll may have a number of taps to permit a very accurate adjustment of the braking effect. It will be noted that in systems according to the invention, the braking energy is impressed on the motor at the normal terminal voltage (200 volts) and that the high voltage occurs only in a local and readily insulatable unit.

I claim as my invention:

1. A motor control system, comprising an alternating-current motor having terminals, 2. contactor having main contacts connected to said terminals for supplying alternating current to said motor when closed, a transformer having a primary circuit connected across said terminals and having a secondary circuit to provide secondary voltage higher than the voltage across said terminals, 'a capacitor and a rectifier seriesconnected with each other in said secondary circuit, and anormally closed auxiliary contact connected across said rectifier and controlled by said contactor to open only when said main contacts are closed, whereby said capacitor is charged through said rectifier when said main contacts are closed and passes a braking impulse through said auxiliary contact and said transformer to said motor when said main contacts open. I

2. A motor control system, comprising an alterhating-current motor having terminals, a contactor having main contacts connected to said terminals for supplying alternating current to said motor when closed, a step-up transformer having a primary winding connected across said terminals to be energized only when said main contacts are closed and having a secondary winding to provide secondary voltage of a higher order of magnitude than the voltage across said terminals, a capacitor and a rectifier series-connected with each other across said secondary winding, said contactor having an auxiliary contact connected across said rectifier and closed only when said main contacts are open.

RALPH E. MARBURY.

REFERENCES orrso The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

2,434,919 Girard Jan. 27, 1948 

